This past weekend, for many fans, has been a write off and a chance to vent at Al Haymon, Showtime, Golden Boy Promotions and various other American boxing personnel. We're not going to rant and rave about how bad the action was and how badly matched up the 3 televised bouts on Showtime were, instead we're just going to give you the results in succinct manner. You've already read the rants and anyway, why should we waste your time and why should we pretend the card was actually worth caring about? So here we go. Daniel Jacobs (28-1, 25) claimed the WBA "regular" Middleweight title with an easy 5th round TKO over Australian Jarrod Fletcher (18-2, 10). Jacobs will now paraded around the world with a paper title whilst Fletcher will be feeling relieved that he wasn't forced into a fight with Gennady Golovkin, as was looking likely at one point early this year. Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17) put on a 1-sided beating against Edgar Santana (29-5, 20) with Santana looking more like a punch bag than a legitimate challenger for the IBF Light Welterweight title. It was one-sided from the opening round and eventually the doctor stopped it to protect Santana from further punishment. Danny Garcia (29-0, 17) almost beheaded the criminally over-matched Rod Salka (19-4, 3). This bout, fought at 142lbs, looked similar to seeing a college kid beating up a high school kid and Salka, despite being a really charming guy, had no real reason to be in the ring. That's all we are going to say on that stinking, awful and ridiculous card. Thankfully there was more action from the US as NBCSN put on an interesting card that featured a number of notable fighters. The most competitive of the action here saw Heavyweight hopeful Vyacheslav Glazkov (18-0-1, 11) struggle past journeyman Derric Rossy (29-9, 14) in a bout that was significantly more competitive than it looked on paper. The only black mark here in terms of the fight was the outlandish 98-92 score card from judge Pierre Benoist, a card that would have been shamed had it not been tucked away on a card many fans didn't seem to watch. Another Heavyweight on the same card was Joseph Parker (10-0, 9) who again very deservedly got rave reviews. Parker, fighting for he second ime in he US, dismantled the over-matched Keith Thompson (7-3, 4). Parker did what he was supposed to do but still generated the great feedback from fans who appear to be warming to him more than many other Heavyweight prospects. In female action we had a pair of world title bouts. At 105lbs fans in Mexico saw Victoria Argueta (13-1, 4) out point fellow Mexican Alondra Garcia (9-2, 1) in what appeared to be a relatively one sided bout, unless you were judge Joe Garcia who some how had Garcia winning 97-93, a scorecard even a close relative would have struggled to have had considering the dominance of Argueta. The other female world title bout saw historic Chilean fighter Carolina Rodriguez (13-0, 1) become the first Chilean in history to successfully defend a world title as she took a split decision over Colombian teenager Dayana Cordero (13-5-1, 9). The bout was very close despite an outlandish scorecard of 99-91 to Rodriguez. We understand that Rodriguez is a national boxing icon in Chile but the least she should do is offer a rematch to Cordero who was very unfortunate here. (Image courtesy http://foxsports.com.au)
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One of the big problems with boxing today is the fact the promoters tend to think that fans are stupid and that the boxing media will just peddle what ever line they want us to. The problem for the promoters is that we, as fans and media, know what a fight isn't worth our time. Sadly the promoters have yet to cotton on to the fact that our loyalty does have it's limits and if you keep feeding up with mismatches we will take our business else where. It's been his mentality that has seen boxing lose some fans to UFC, not as many fans as some reports suggest but still some fans. Sadly this weekend is going to be one of those weekends where the main stream boxing public will feel a little bit ripped off due to a show in America that leaves a bitter taste before a punch is even thrown. The show in question is a triple header on Showtime. The biggest name on the card is unified Light Welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16) who will be fighting in a non title fight against Rod Salka (19-3, 3). Salka is a massive under-dog and rightfully so given that he's moving up in weight, lacks power and lacks much in terms of world class experience. We do believe Salka is better than his record but not good enough to give Garcia any problems. Before we go any further let us just make everyone aware, we do not mind stay busy fights, in fact we're very supportive of fighters wanting to stay busy and fighting in "gimmes" as a result. What we're not fans of is a fighter who fights every 5 or 6 months having a "stay busy fight". A stay busy fight should be just that, a fight to stay busy, like Srisaket Sor Rungvisai's bouts against the likes of Joel Kwong. It shouldn't be a bout given air time on a major network in the US that customers are paying for. The Light Welterweight division is awash with better match ups but they've ended up bringing up a Lightweight who is unranked? Awful move from Garcia's team. Thankfully non of the world bodies will be sanctioning the Garcia fight though the IBF will be sanctioning a different Light Welterweight bout on this card. That's because IBF champion Lamont Peterson (32-2-1, 16) will be facing Edgar Santana (29-4, 20). Santana is pretty fun watch and has very respectable power. He is not, however a world class Light Welterweight and he's certainly not come close to earning a shot at a title holder. Thankfully is a better bout than the Garcia bout, but only just. We would all have loved to have seen Garcia Vs Peterson in a triple title unification bout and Santana Vs Salka in a show opener but instead we've ended up with 2 bouts that people really have shown a disdain for and are left wondering why the promoter is treating us like fools. The third bout on the show is the highlight of the card as Daniel Jacobs (27-1, 24) fights against Jarrod Fletcher (18-1, 10) for the WBA Middleweight title. On paper this is an interesting fight and a chance for Jacobs to cap off an amazing story from being a cancer patient to a world champion. Sadly however it's a bout for one of the many numerous WBA paper belts that are going around pretending to be real title belts. The real champion, Gennady Golovkin, defended his belt just a few weeks ago against Daniel Geale yet the WBA, in their infinite wisdom, have managed to create a fake belt for this bout. It's a real shame that this, like a possible Salka/Santana bout, isn't being fought as an eliminator. In Mexico we get a couple of notable bouts, though the first of those suffers from the same issue as the American card. That's because WBC #1 contender at 122lbs Andres Gutierrez (29-0-1, 22) will be fighting in a total mismatch against complete no-hoper Mario Macias (26-12, 13). Some of you may recall Macias as a former Koki Kameda opponent and you'd be right, you'd also be right if you said Macias was the last fighter Koki has stopped. It'd be a massive shock if Macias manages to survive more than 3 or 4 rounds. The other bout will see IBF female Minimumweight champion Victoria Argueta (12-1, 4) defending her belt against Alondra Garcia (9-1, 1) in a much, much better match up than many of the others taking place over the weekend. Thankfully, for once, we have a relatively well matched bout! (Image courtesy of http://explorebk.com) |
InternationalWe know that not every fight involves an Asian fighter but a lot of fights do affect Asian fighter. As a result we've decided to add this new section to Asian boxing where we look at selected International bouts. Archives
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